If a living person is documented as "deceased", how can the mistake be corrected?

If a living person is documented as "deceased," how can this error be corrected?

Reports spread on social media that a woman living in the Bulungur district of the Samarkand region was registered as deceased in documents, despite being alive. According to the explanation provided by the regional health department, the woman's personal identification number (PINFL) was linked to the data of a stillborn fetus due to a technical error.

— Entering another person's PINFL into a medical certificate, incorrect linking of data in the electronic system, and opening a death record in the name of a living person at the registry office (civil registry) are different situations. The procedure for resolving them is also not the same.

The explanation given regarding the situation in Samarkand stated that the PINFL was incorrectly linked. This does not mean that a separate death record was opened in the woman's name at the registry office.

For this reason, a citizen must first determine the source of the "deceased" information. If the error is in the medical certificate, they should contact the medical institution that issued it. If the incorrect information has also been transferred to the registry office records, an application is submitted to the relevant registry office.

This distinction is very important: in a situation where only the connection in the electronic system needs to be corrected, asking to cancel a non-existent death record will not solve the problem.

In the application, the citizen must write when and how they discovered the error, and in which document or system they were indicated as "deceased." After that, they request to verify the information, find the source of the error, and rectify it.

Attaching an identity document and a copy of the document or electronic message containing the incorrect information to the application will assist in the verification. Other necessary documents are determined based on the nature of the error.

It is advisable to keep the registration number of the application and obtain a written response regarding the outcome. This will be important later when demanding the correction of the error or appealing a refusal.

According to Article 228 of the Family Code and Paragraph 138 of the Registry Office Rules, if there are sufficient grounds and there is no dispute between the interested parties, the registry office itself makes the correction to the record. A record registered in Uzbekistan is corrected by the registry office where its record is kept.

However, correcting an error made in the name of a deceased person cannot be equated with rectifying a death record opened in the name of a living person. In the first case, the information in the record is corrected. In the second case, the fact of death may have been registered in relation to the wrong person. Whether correcting the record is sufficient or whether it needs to be canceled is determined based on the documents.

An application to make changes or corrections to a registry office record is usually reviewed within five working days. If there are valid reasons, such as copies of necessary records not being obtained, the period may be extended up to 15 working days.

This period applies specifically to the application to correct the registry office record. It is incorrect to understand this as the period for rectifying any technical error in the system of a medical institution or other agency.

If the registry office refuses to correct the record, this decision can be appealed in court. For this, a written response indicating the reasons for the refusal must be obtained.

The appeal to the court indicates which information is incorrect, what was requested from the registry office, and on what grounds the request was refused. The response of the registry office and documents confirming the error are attached to the application.

If it is necessary to completely cancel a death record opened in the name of a living person, the matter differs from a simple correction. According to the rules, the registry office makes a corresponding entry and issues a certificate to the applicant based on the court's decision to cancel the record. Which court to appeal to and with what demand is determined based on the nature of the error and the substance of the dispute.

Information about death is also sent from the registry office to the systems of the Pension Fund and the National Agency for Social Protection. Therefore, once the error is rectified at the initial source, it is important to check that the information has also been updated in the agencies that received it.

The citizen should keep the written response or certificate confirming that the correction has been made. If the problem continues in another agency due to the old information, it is possible to request a re-check and update of the information based on this document, says Judge Abduvaliyev.